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VPI Speed Problem

I have a VPI Super Scoutmaster with SDS. Fabulous sound, had it for about a year. I moved to a new place about 5 months ago and have had it set up and working well for about 3 months in the new location.

Recently, I thought the first song on some album sides sounded slow, but as the album played a minute or two, all sounded right again. Now, everything sounds slow all the time, both 33's and 45's. I tried bypassing the SDS, though there is no speed setting on the motor assembly, so I don't know if that should sound right, but it sounds very slow and muddy as well.

Any thoughts on what might be wrong or how to troubleshoot? Any insight would be appreciated.
kthomas

Showing 3 responses by kthomas

kthomas OP
911 posts
 
Thanks very much for all the helpful responses. I'll have to get it working perfectly again before I could sell it to get a Lenco in any case, so thanks especially for the troubleshooting tips :-)

New belt didn't change anything. I'll have to get a strobe to check the speed - I have the speed disk, but not the strobe. And my motor is the dual wheel (600 rpm?), not the direct wheel.

I'll check into putting drops of oil in the right places. It really fell off from sounding great to sounding terrible pretty quickly. Bummer, too, as I just got the new Van Morrison remasters :-)
kthomas OP
911 posts
 
Okay, I took all the belts off, and took the spindle off of the motor and the platter off the TT base. Everything appeared in good working order, so I put it all back together. I tried another album and it sounded much closer to right, though still not quite right.

So, apologies for basic questions - I am pretty new to this - but what oil or grease would you use to re-lubricate the spindle the motor pulley goes on and/or for the center of the turntable platter? I think the combination of lubrication of both places may fix the issue, but don't want to put something incorrect on the table.

I don't have a strobe to check speed, but ordered one today and will be able to check speed later this week.

Thanks again to all the help - I really appreciate it.
kthomas OP
911 posts
 
Problem solved - I got the white lithium grease and applied it to both the flywheel ball-bearing as well as the platter ball-bearing. The TT measures perfect 33 1/3 and 45rpm speeds.

Thanks to all for your help - a pretty basic problem, I suppose, but I am new to this and relatively lame when it comes to anything mechanical, so I learned a lot :-)
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